Many cabinets in use today do not employ rollers to support the drawers because of the size of the normal roller assemblies, the mechanical problems associated with them, and the costs of drawer rollers. Where rollers are employed in cabinets, the rollers normally have a metal holder or housing, and a steel shaft on which a plastic roller is mounted. With the weight of the drawer pressing downwardly on the roller, which is supported in a cantilevered manner on the metal shaft, the movement of the drawer back and forth stresses the fasteners which secure the housing to the cabinet, and these screws or staples sometimes work loose. It is also noted that the use of rollers of the type currently employed increase the complexity of cabinet design. More specifically, since the rollers and their associated housings are below the top surface of the rail of the cabinet face frame, in many mechanical configurations, cutouts must be made in the cabinet construction to accommodate the rollers, before they are mounted in place.
In modern construction, staples are usually employed in the assembly of the various parts. In the assembly of prior art type rollers, with their metal housings, very accurate orientation of staple guns relative to the openings in the metal housings are required; otherwise, the staples will merely bend over, and the housing will not be fully secured into the cabinet.
It is also noted that the cantilevered type of plastic rollers have a tendency to flatten out under heavy static loads, allowing the drawer side to scrape the roller housing and the screws or the staples holding the housing in place. Furthermore, conventional plastic rollers with steel housings of the type described above tend to be somewhat noisy, in addition to the other disadvantages set forth above.
A principle object of the present invention is to provide a low-cost and low friction drawer roller assembly which avoids all of the problems of conventional drawer rollers as outlined above.